Aaron Broussard was sentenced Monday to serve 46 months in federal prison, less than the six years and eight days he served as Jefferson Parish president until his administration collapsed in corruption. His former parish attorney, Tom Wilkinson, and his ex-wife, Karen Parker, both escaped jail time getting three years probation in sentencing by U.S District Judge Hayden Head Jr. (See later, full story on the sentencing.)

Broussard's and Wilkinson's sentences were less than prosecutors had sought as the judge questioned how some bribery charges were counted and referred to the scheme as "sophomoric." The judge said he viewed the series of Bill Mack payments to Broussard as a single bribe, not multiple, for sentencing purposes.

Broussard also must repay $280,000.

In addressing the court before the sentence was announced, Broussard said: "I accept full responsibility for the actions I have pleaded guilty to."

He offered apologies to the people who elected him for "bringing dishonor to my position. I will pay for that dishonor for the rest of my life."

Broussard is seeking assignment to the federal prison in Pensacola, Fla. The judge said he had not objections to that. He ordered Broussard to report to prison April 8.

The ruling permanently stains a 35-year public service portrait that Broussard began painting when he was elected to the Jefferson School Board while still a student at Loyola University Law School, and that he seemingly framed with his election to the high offices of Parish Council chairman in 1995 and parish president in 2003. Along the way, Broussard once ran for governor and became one of the most familiar politicians in the New Orleans area, a smooth, imaginative and quip-ready consensus builder who stayed in the Democratic Party even as his constituency tilted increasingly Republican.

Former Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard, left, arrives at federal court in New Orleans with his attorney, Robert Jenkins, to plead guilty Sept. 25.The Times-Picayune archive

A federal grand jury ultimately charged Broussard with 27 criminal counts. In an agreement with the government to avoid trial, he pleaded guilty in September to two of them: conspiracy and theft.

The payroll fraud saw Broussard, Wilkinson and others concoct a dead-head job in 2003 for Parker, Broussard's girlfriend at the time. Though not qualified for the position, Parker was put on the parish attorney's staff as a paralegal supervisor. Her name was soon transferred to the Security Department roster, where she supposedly processed identification badges for parish employees.

If she ever worked a day, however, it was hard to tell. She pulled down an illegal $137,839 over six years, with commensurate increases in pension and Medicare benefits. Along the way, Broussard and Parker married in 2004 and divorced in 2009.

In exchange for taking care of Parker, and for helping a relative gain admission to a private school where Wilkinson was a board member, Broussard gave his parish attorney a series of pay raises. Wilkinson's illegal take totaled was $39,633, plus benefit increases.

In an unusual development, the federal courts imported Head, a semi-retired U.S. district judge from Corpus Christi, Texas, to preside over the Broussard-Wilkinson-Parker case after all judges of the Eastern District of Louisiana stepped aside. No reason for their demurral was given, although it was noted that Wilkinson's brother, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jay Wilkinson, is an employee of the District Court.